Weeping Willow Traditional Cache

This Weeping Willow has always impressed me, but never as much as tonight, when I actually was close to it to place the cache.

Weeping Willow

Willows, also called sallows, and osiers, form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Most species are known as willow, but some narrow-leaved shrub species are called osier, and some broader-leaved species are referred to as sallow (from Old English sealh, related to the Latin word salix, willow). Some willows (particularly arctic and alpine species) are low-growing or creeping shrubs; for example, the dwarf willow (Salix herbacea) rarely exceeds 6 cm (2.4 in) in height, though it spreads widely across the ground.

Willows all have abundant watery bark sap, which is heavily charged with salicylic acid, soft, usually pliant, tough wood, slender branches, and large, fibrous, often stoloniferous roots. The roots are remarkable for their toughness, size, and tenacity to life, and roots readily grow from aerial parts of the plant.

Willows are dioecious, with male and female flowers appearing as catkins on different plants; the catkins are produced early in the spring, often before the leaves, or as the new leaves open.

Almost all willows take root very readily from cutting or where broken branches lie on the ground.One famous example of such growth from cuttings involves the poet Alexander Pope, who begged a twig from a parcel tied with twigs sent from Spain to Lady Suffolk. This twig was planted and thrived, and legend has it that all of England's weeping willows are descended from this first one.

Willows are often planted on the borders of streams so their interlacing roots may protect the bank against the action of the water. Frequently, the roots are much larger than the stem which grows from them.

Willow roots spread widely and are very aggressive in seeking out moisture; for this reason, they can become problematic when planted in residential areas, where the roots are notorious for clogging French drains, drainage systems, weeping tiles, septic systems, storm drains, and sewer systems, Particularly older, tile, concrete, or ceramic pipes. Newer,PVC sewer pipes are much less leaky at the joints, and are therefore less susceptible to problems from willow roots; the same is true of water supply piping.

Willow Trees as Medicine

Willow trees produce an abundant, milky sap. Within the sap is a substance called salicylic acid. In 1763, a British minister named Edward Stone did experiments on willow sap and identified and isolated salicylic acid. The acid caused too much stomach upset to be widely used until 1897 when a chemist named Felix Hoffman created a synthetic version which was gentle on the stomach. His company, Bayer, produced his invention as the first aspirin.

Willows are literally used for art. Artists' sketching charcoal is often made from processed willow bark and trees.

The cache is a camoed "micro" pill bottle. The Push Hard to open and close kind. It holds only a rolled log with a rubber band and a plastic zip lock bag. Please keep track of the parts and put it back as you found it. It is tied in. BYOP and no tweezers, please, they kill the plastic.